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In his first appearance since becoming Ireland's captain in all formats, Andrew Balbirnie won the toss and elected to bat first on a classic baked Barbadian surface. His side started well before Paul Stirling on 15 pulled a ball from Alzarri Joseph straight to short mid-wicket. Babirnie replaced him and looked in good touch with a cover driven four and a hook for six, but Roston Chase's introduction earned a feather behind, and the Irish skipper departed for 16.

The experienced head of William Porterfield joined debutant Gareth Delany, 13 years his junior, and the pair looked to rebuild. But Delany on 19 bottom-edged a pull shot through to the wicket-keeper off the bowling of Joseph, and Kevin O'Brien was trapped in front for 4 in the Antiguan's next over.

Yet more problems arose for Ireland as Sheldon Cottrell had both Porterfield (15) and Simi Singh (5) caught by Shai Hope, taking the keeper's tally of catches for the innings to four.

But Mark Adair and Lorcan Tucker combined to give their side hope of a reasonable total, putting on 54 for the seventh wicket, including a massive six down the ground by Adair from the bowling of Chase - though other than that the spinner remained miserley conceding just 35 runs from his 10 overs. And when Adair tried to repeat the dose off Hayden Walsh, it ended with Hope whipping the bails off despite having both feet in the air, while Adair was stranded several metres down the pitch.

Two more wickets followed quickly as Tucker was undone by some extra bounce from Joseph, who finished with figures of 4/32, and Andy McBrine holed out to become Walsh's second victim, the leg-spinner ending with 2/30. Boyd Rankin and Barry McCarthy put up some late resistance, adding 30 for the last wicket to leave Ireland 180 all out from 46.1 overs.

West Indies lost Shai Hope early in their reply, caught off the bowling of McCarthy for 13. But Evin Lewis cantered to a 46-ball fifty to place the hosts firmly in control. The next two wickets came courtesy of Simi Singh, with both Brandon King (20) and Shimron Hetmyer (8) top-edging sweeps. Nicholas Pooran looked like he could finish it in a hurry, hitting a huge straight six off McBrine and following it up with a pair of fours. But McBrine had his revenge in his next over, sending the Trinidadian packing for 17.

Lewis however stood firm and continued to score freely, and supported by Chase he guided West Indies inexorably towards their target. There was some late drama, as with one run required for victory, Lewis found himself on strike and still five runs short of a century. But his lofted drive fell just short of the cover boundary, leaving him unbeaten on 99.

The second ODI takes place on Thursday, 9 January at the same venue.